Bottas: Everything went very well before the pit stop

The race in Melbourne was the third in a row in which Sauber drivers lost a lot of time due to pit stop delays. The team believes that they could expect to finish in the top ten with the car, but the problems that arose prevented them from earning any points.

Valtteri Bottas (14th): “It’s always unpleasant when a race ends in nothing. This is disappointing because everything was going very well before the pit stop. I had a good start and, more importantly, I showed a pace that allowed me to earn points.

It is clear that we must continue to work to solve the problems that plague us. Everything we have already done has significantly reduced the chance of hiccups at a pit stop, but the risk remains – today we were convinced of this. But there is an element of failure in what happened: the mechanics who performed the pit stop could not have done anything differently. This is a technical issue that needs to be resolved.

There were also positive moments in the race: our speed is growing. The new products that the team brought to this stage allowed us to take a step forward and we had to earn points. In the first laps I was battling with Fernando Alonso, so eighth or ninth place was within reach.

You have to keep working hard. We have more new products coming soon and I think we will take a big step forward in Japan.”

Guanyu Zhou (15th): “Difficult weekend. Starting from the pit lane is always difficult and then I was stuck in the DRS train, which made it difficult to overtake.

The team could have earned a few points, but unfortunately this was not possible. During the second pit stop, problems related to the gearbox arose beyond my control. The car stopped when I put it in gear, resulting in a loss of time.

Overall we have a high and competitive race pace compared to our nearest rivals. The team missed an opportunity today, but we will continue to work to get back to Suzuka.”